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Renewable energy storage

It is widely recognised that the transition towards cleaner and more sustainable energy systems will require a significant increase in the flexibility of power systems. Flexibility in this context refers to the ability of a power system to maintain a reliable and continuous service when faced with potentially rapid changes in supply or demand.

Electricity storage can help with providing this flexibility and reduce the costs of system operation by shifting excess supply to periods of peak demand. This flexibility means that electricity storage can offer a broad variety of advantages and benefits to system owners, grid operators, electricity producers and consumers. This importance will only grow as variable renewable energies increase their share in power grids.

The increasing share of variable renewables such as wind and solar inherently reduce the flexibility of a power system. By their very nature, high variable renewable penetration makes the supply-side more dynamic and fluctuations more severe, while also displacing existing flexibility technologies.

This session will explore the changing landscape for energy storage technologies, including storage reservoirs, pumped storage and other emerging and innovative technologies. It will also look at the policy and market mechanisms that can ensure stable power grids and cost-effective energy storage operations.